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INDIA 



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ILLUSTRATED. 



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NEW YORK: 

DOUD, MEAD, AND COMPANY, 

751 BROADWAY. 



Copyright, 187b, Dodd, Mead, 6^ Company. 



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Press of Rand, Avery, and Company, Boston. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



1. A Bhestie or Water-carrier ... frontispiece. 

2. Jac Tree page 7 

3. A Brahmin ii 

4. Hindoos 14 

5. Hindoo Girls, High Caste 15 

6. Hand Prayer Mill 25 

7. Water Prayer Mill 27 

8. Burning Ghaut 29 

9. Parsee 33 

10. Fakirs 36 

11. A Fakir 37 

12. Banyan Tree 43 

13. A Bungalow 46 

14. A Water Carrier 48 

15. Native Huts 49 



6 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

i6. Bullock Garry 52 

17. A Palanquin ; 53 

'18. Travellers' Bungalow 55 

ig. Thatched Boat 57 

20. Bombay One-man Cart 58 

21. Sail Boat of Malabar 59 

22. Indian Railways 61 

23. The Cobra 63 

24. Serpent Charmer 65 

25. The Himalayas 71 

26. A Himalaya Bridge 74 

27. Street in Calcutta, European Quarters 77 

28. Street in Calcutta, Native Quarters 79 

29. Cyclone on the Hoogly ... 81 

30. A Street Barber 85 

31. The Ganges at Benares 88 

32. Benares 91 

33. Street in Benares 93 

34. Interior of Taj at Agra 98 

35. A Rebel Camp 105 

36. Scene of the Massacre at Cavvnpore 109 



INDIA. 



QTRETCHING 

southward far 
into the Indian 
Ocean hes the pen- 
insula of India, the 
great eastern em- 
pire of England. 
The kingdoms of 
Europe, France, 
Spain, Germany, 
.. all sink into insig- 
S^^^^'^S^^a^'S^^^^JrC-^ nificance beside it. 
jAc TREE. It is larger than 

them all put together. Its greatest length 
north and south and its greatest breadth east 




8 INDIA. 

and west, are over eighteen hundred miles ; 
while it has a coast line of over four thou- 
sand miles. 

When we come to examine the country 
itself, we find that everything is on a scale 
proportioned to its vast size. It has three 
great rivers over a thousand miles in length, it 
has vast deserts covered with arid sands, it 
has mountain peaks whose summits are white 
with everlasting snows, while all its vast 
plains are peopled with a swarming multitude. 
In this country there are five times as many 
souls as in the United States, or over two 
hundred millions. Of what races this host 
is made up, we shall proceed to see. 

Many centuries before the Christian era, 
vast hordes came from the north-west of Asia, 
and driving out the inhabitants of India over- 
ran and settled the land. Of the conquered 



INDIA. 9 

race some few descendants have survived, and 
may be found in parts of the country to-day, 
but they are the lowest in point of intelli- 
gence of all its inhabitants, and but little 
better than animals. Their new masters, the 
Hindoos, soon acquired great wealth and 
power, and reigned for many centuries undis- 
turbed. The Institutes of Manu, as they are 
called, written in the ninth century before 
Christ, are a code of civil laws, which were, 
however, believed to have all the weight 
of the most holy inspiration. From them 
we learn the social condition of the people at 
this time. According to these all Hindoos 
are divided into four classes : 

Brahmins, who sprang from the head of 
Brahma, to whom the priestly office belonged. 

Kshatriyas, who sprang from the shoulders 
of Brahma, and who are the warrior class. 



lO INDIA. 

Vaisyas, who sprang from the loins of 
Brahma — this class included all merchants, 
lawyers, doctors, etc. 

Sudras, who sprang from the feet of 
Brahma — the followers of all such trades as 
were forbidden to the classes above them. 

Did any man belong, to any one of these 
classes, it was the will of God that had 
placed him there ; to attempt to change his 
condition would be impious. Each class was 
fenced in with all manner of regulations. To 
the Brahmins belonged the interpretation of 
the holy books, and we may well believe that 
they so interpreted them as to confirm them- 
selves in power. To touch a Brahmin was 
death ; to render him assistance was sufficient 
atonement for almost any sin. 

Tlic Institutes of Manu declare that he 
'' who barely assaults a Brahmin with intent to 



INDIA. 



II 



hurt him, shall be whirled about for a century 
in hell. Never shall a king slay a Brahmin, 
though convicted of all possible crimes ; let 
him banish the offender from his realm, but 




BRAHMIN. 

with all his property secure, and his body un- 
hurt. A Brahmin, whether learned or ignorant, 
is a powerful divinity, even as fire is a power- 
ful divinity, whether consecrated or popular." 



12 INDIA. 

Two per cent, interest only could be 
asked from them on loans. They were not 
allowed to obtain wealth except by intel- 
lectual means, though they could receive 
presents, and as to them belonged the power 
of blessing and cursing, we can easily fancy 
that they did not fall into poverty. To the 
three higher classes belonged the title, '' twice 
born," but to the poor Sudra belonged 
neither title nor wealth — it was the will of 
God that he should be ever a servant, and 
in beggary. 

Such was the composition of Indian 
society, and such it remained till nearly the 
seventh century, when the Mohammedans 
began to attack the country on its north- 
western border, and after varying successes 
carried on through several centuries, at last 
obtained the mastery, and ground down the 



INDIA. T3 

poor Hindoos beneath them. For a thousand 
years they ruled, until finally the East India 
Company, incorporated by the English gov- 
ernment, which had gained a foothold in the 
land, gradually brought it all under the 
English sway. 

Modern Indian society is therefore com- 
posed of many discordant elements, Hindoos 
and Mohammedans, each in turn conquerors 
and conquered, unite in hating the English. 
The laws of caste which the code of Mj.nu 
laid down, are still as rigorously enforced 
as in his days nine hundred years before 
Christ, but in the twenty-seven centuries 
that have passed since then, they have be- 
come much complicated and somewhat 
changed. The Sudra is now no longer a 
beggar, he may be a wealthy merchant, but 
his social position is not one particle raised, 



14 



INDIA. 



and the Brahmin may be poor and perhaps 
occupy a menial position, but he is none 
the less " twice born." A recent traveller 
tells of how in Calcutta he saw a wealthy 
Sudra merchant who had in his employ a 
Brahmin as porter, but the rich man could 




HINDOOS. 

never pass his servant without a gesture 
denoting the greatest deference. No crime 
can cause one to lose his rank. Only in one 
way can this be done, by eating with one 
of another class or by violating some similar 



INDIA. 15 

ceremonial law. The offender does not de- 
scend in rank, but becomes an outcast, de- 
spised alike by every one, and shunned by 
every one, for he who should receive him 




HINDOO GIRLS {High Caste). 

would himself become an outcast. The same 
traveller tells us that while in India a hi^h 
caste Hindoo was present at an entertainment 



1 6 INDIA. 

given by some Europeans, and partook of 
some food in their presence. For this he 
lost caste, and only regained it after paying 
a heavy fine, humbling himself before an 
idol with presents and performing other de- 
grading offices. There is not a Hindoo in all 
India who would not consider that he had 
lost caste by eating with any sovereign of 
Europe. 

One of the greatest agents in breaking 
up the system of caste is the railways. The 
Indians are fond of travel, and sooner than 
undergo the delays of the days when rail- 
ways were not known, they put their pre- 
judice aside, and the Brahmin, who formerly 
thought it pollution to have a Sudra sit upon 
the same mat, may be seen quietly sitting 
beside him in the cars. 

India is especially the home of strange 



INDIA. ty 

gods, for the Hindoos are worshippers of 
many idols. In the single Presidency of Bom- 
bay are over twenty thousand idol temples, 
while it is said that in all India the deities 
and objects considered sacred, amount in 
number to nearly thirty million. 

Our only way to explain how all this 
superstition came, is to go back to far dis- 
tant ages, and see what the earliest records 
tell us of the primitive rehgion of the people. 
We find then, that many hundred centuries 
before Christ, there was believed to be one 
God, Brahme, who was all powerful. At the 
present day the educated Hindoo believes 
in this god as superior to all the many 
thousands worshipped. His attributes were 
Brahma, the creative power — Vishnu, the 
preserving power — and Siva, the destroying 
power. It was but a short time before these 



l8 INDIA. 

attributes became separate gods. Hindoo 
imagination made each of them real persons ; 
it gave them wives who became goddesses, 
to be worshipped, and sons and daughters 
to become a new race of heavenly beings to 
whom divine honors should be paid. Vishnu, 
they tell us, ten times took the form of man, 
and each form in which he appeared is rev- 
erenced as a god. 

Then, seeing that matter could not be de- 
stroyed, for instance that wood when burned 
did not disappear, but only changed its form, 
they looked on matter as eternal, and wor- 
shipped it. There is a fire-god Agni, while 
water is perhaps the most prominent element 
in the Hindoo religion. The Ganges is an 
object of double worship since, in addition to 
its divine character, it is especially holy, as it 
sprang from the head of the god Vishnu. 



INDIA. 19 

The sacred stream is never without its thou- 
sands of worshippers, who hasten to wash 
away all sin in its purifying waters. From 
the indestructibihty of matter they soon 
argued that the soul could not be destroyed, 
but that it must pass on for endless ages, 
entering either the body of man or of animal. 
Some sects even go so far as to wear over 
their mouths a cloth lest they may breathe 
in some insect and thus perhaps destroy a 
former friend or relative, while others carry 
long brushes with which they carefully sweep 
the ground before them, lest an unfortunate 
step should crush a soul. With such views 
it may be imagined that they look with hor- 
ror on eating animal food. The heavens 
were worshipped and many individual stars, 
while the sun was a mighty ^od. One sect 
ntver eat in the morning until they have 



20 INDIA. 

worshipped him, and always fast while he is 
hidden behind the clouds. The seasons of 
the year, coming with unfailing regularity 
seemed to them divine, and the reproductive 
power of Nature, under the emblem of the 
Lingam, has more worshippers than any other 
god in India. Sometimes the gods were 
symbolized by animals. Thus Laksmi, the 
wife of Vishnu, is represented by the cow — 
Vishnu by the fish, and so on, and thus these 
animals became gods. The story is told of 
a devout Brahmin who had wandered as far 
north from his country as St. Petersburg, and 
who was seen watching a number of boys 
fishing. When any fish was caught, he has- 
tened to buy it, and reverentially returned 
it to the water. Trees are worshipped, and 
often what seem to the foreigner but pol- 
ished stones, to the natives' mind are 



INDIA. 21 

emblems of their gods. To the Brahmins 
belongs the right of performing all the offices 
connected with the temples and worship of 
these many gods, and to them alone is to be 
laid the sin of this^ idolatry. It has been 
devised and in every respect is arranged to 
benefit them at the expense of the millions 
whom they keep in ignorance. 

The festivals of these gods and goddesses 
are celebrated with great splendor and with 
varying rites. The cruel goddess, Kali, is 
supposed to be especially delighted with hu- 
man suffering, and her devotees practise upon 
themselves all manner of cruelties, cutting 
themselves with knives and even swinging in 
air by means of a hook thrust through the 
fleshy part of the back. 

On her altars, before the strong arm of 
the English rule intervened, human victims 



22 INDIA. 

were offered, and this fearful goddess, repre- 
sented by a statue surrounded with serpents, 
her long hair erect and her four hands each 
holding a dissevered human head, was satis- 
fied only with the blood of young men in the 
prime of life. Before the victim was struck 
down, the priest saluted the statue, crying : 
" Hail, Kali, goddess of thunder, iron scep- 
tred, hail, fierce Kali, cut, cut, slay, destroy, 
drink blood ! destroy, destroy ! " Hardly less 
fearful were the rites of Juggernaut. An eye- 
witness of the festival of this god in the days 
when the East India Company ruled, gives a 
vivid picture of it. For miles before he 
reached the spot, the road was thronged 
with pilgrims, thousands in number. At the 
appointed time the idol was brought from the 
temple, and placed upon an enormous car 
sixty feet in height, to which six long cables 



INDIA. 23 

were attached, by which it was to be drawn. 
Thousands seized the cables and dragged the 
huge car, which moved slowly on, the priests 
and attendants of the god standing upon it, to 
the number of one hundred and twenty. The 
hideous idol was set high above all, a black 
and grinning face with bloody mouth, its body 
dressed in gaudy colors. Presently, a pilgrim 
announced that he was ready to offer himself 
a sacrifice. Throwing himself upon the 
ground, the huge mass passed over him, leav- 
ing only a flattened corpse. The body, after 
lying exposed for a time, was taken up and 
carelessly cast aside, to be devoured by 
jackals. 

The great car of Juggernaut is still 
brought forth on festival days, but human 
sacrifices are no longer allowed, and the great 
mass is surrounded with police to prevent 



24 INDIA. 

the people throwing themselves beneath its 
wheels. At intervals they manage to do this, 
and then it is astonishing to see men who 
court this fearful death and are not afraid to 
be crushed beneath the grinding mass, leap 
up and take refuge in flight among the crowd 
as the lash of the police falls upon their backs. 
But we should be giving a very false idea 
of Hindoo religion did we say that only such 
rites as these were celebrated. A very differ- 
ent spectacle is seen at the festival of Vasanti, 
the goddess of spring, which extends over 
forty days. Here all give themselves up to 
enjoyment and revelry in very much the same 
way as at the Carnival of Rome. Crowds 
throng the streets in masks and throw at each 
other light bags filled with a crimson powder 
which breaks and scatters over all. Numer- 
ous games are introduced, and in the general 



INDIA. 25 

merriment a part of the distinctions of caste 
is overlooked. 

These gods and festivals are not held in 




HAND PRAYER-MILL. 

equal honor in all parts of India. One great 
deity who is an object of special worship in 



26 INDIA. 

one section may be held in slight esteem 
in another, and a festival in which all join in 
Northern India may be almost unheard-of 
in Southern India. 

For instance, among the Himalayas they 
worship gods unknown in other parts of the 
country, whom they think can only be ap- 
peased by constant prayer. As to offer this 
would be beyond the ability of man, they 
have fashioned a little machine which shall 
pray for them, and which the priests and 
many of the people carry about with them 
in their hands. It consists, as may be seen 
from the picture, of a circular box, which is 
made to revolve by the motion of the hand, 
and inside of which is a paper whereon is 
written a prayer for the six classes of living 
creatures, " the souls in heaven, the evil 
spirits in the air, men, animals, souls in 



INDIA. 



27 



purgatory, and souls in hell." On the outer 
surface of the machine is inscribed "O mane 




WATER PRAYER-MILLS, 

pad me han (to him of the Lotus and the 



28 INDIA. 

jewel)," who is supposed to be so well 
pleased with worship of this kind, that these 
machines are often made on a large scale 
and kept turning day and night by water- 
power like a mill wheel. 

The Hindoos always burn the bodies of 
the dead, and it is a common thing for the 
traveller to see at night, as he approaches 
a city, the flames and smoke arising from the 
funeral pyres of the departed. Formerly the 
widow always threw herself into the flames 
and perished with her husband. This prac- 
tice has been almost entirely stopped by the 
government — all concerned in such a case 
being considered as murderers — but it is still 
occasionally done. No doubt, part of the 
impulse which prompts a woman thus to 
sacrifice herself is a religious one, but a great 
share is doubtless due to the wretched lot to 



INDIA. 31 

which a widow is doomed. " From the day 
of the death of her husband commence her 
sufferings and privations. She is made to 
employ herself in devotional austerities which 
know no end. Her appearance on all joyous 
occasions is considered a bad omen. Even 
at the marriage ceremony of her brothers 
and sisters she cannot take an honorable 
place or join other females who, because 
their husbands are living, can enjoy all the 
reasonable freedom and pleasures of life. 
The Hindoos invariably consider it an 
auspicious omen to come across the wife of 
a living husband when they leave home for 
the accomplishment of an intended purpose, 
but if they happen to come across a widow 
they despair of success, andT proceed with 
reluctance, or return to curse the widow. 
She cannot talk familiarly with her dearest 



32 INDIA. 

and nearest relatives. Among the Brahmins 
her diet is rigidly regulated. She is welcome 
to a meal only once a day, and she must 
content herself with some unwholesome eat- 
ables in the evening merely to prevent the 
cravings of hunger. To be brief, the widow 
lives a Hfe of toil and mortification. From 
morn to eve, she has something or other 
to do. Domestic drudgery is her inseparable 
doom. If she is able to read, she may spend 
a leisure which is short and hard-earned in 
the perusal of a potJiee containing tales in 
honor of some of the Hindoo gods." 

Besides the worshippers of Hindoo gods 
are many of other religions. The Mussulmans 
come next in number and are of course fol- 
lowers of Mohammed. Their mosques, 
capped with the graceful dome rising above 
the houses of the cities, are seen from far and 



INDIA. 



33 



are much more beautiful than the small and 
dirty temples of the Hindoos. Perhaps one 
great reason for this disparity may be found 
in the fact that when the Mohammedans 
conquered the country they destroyed the 




THE PARSEE. 

Hindoo temples, using the material for the 
erection of their own. Besides these are the 
Parsees, found principally in and about 
Bombay, who are comparatively small in 
numbers, but important on account of their 
great success in business. They are followers 



34 INDIA. 

of Zoroaster, and are called fire-worshippers. 
They reverence the sun, moon, and stars, and 
may often be seen at sunset prostrate on the 
seashore, praying to the departing king of day. 
Fire is held in reverence by them, and in 
their temples is a flame kept burning, which 
they claim has never been extinguished. Of 
course the upper classes regard fire only as 
the emblem of an all-creating power, but with 
the lower class it is to be feared that worship 
does not go beyond the emblem, and that 
fire itself is their god. 

In the disposal of their dead, they have a 
custom which is particularly revolting. Their 
cemetery is at a little distance from the city, 
upon a hill. From this rise several circular 
towers called Towers of Silence, fifty or 
sixty feet in height, their interior a hollow 
well. Across the top of these towers are 



INDIA. 35 

placed gratings, on which the bodies of the 
dead are exposed. The vultures soon de- 
scend and devour the flesh, while the bones 
fall through the grating into a common pile 
below. 

An outgrowth of all these superstitions \^ 
the class called Fakirs, who affect great holi- 
ness and are held in the greatest reverence 
by all. Their holiness is of a peculiar charac- 
ter, and is not attended with that cleanHness 
which is generally believed to be akin to it. 
In their appearance they are most repulsive 
and filthy, but this in the eyes of their wor- 
shippers is but a fresh claim for reverence. 
Some make it their business to carry the 
sacred water of the Ganges to sprinkle upon 
the altars of distant temples ; others excite 
reverence by bodily tortures. • All this is very 
profitable, for the gifts of the people are gen- 



36 



INDIA. 



erous, since they are prompted by fear of 
offending these holy men. At all sacred fes- 




FAKIRS. 

tivals these fakirs assemble in great numbers. 
Here will be one whose arm is withered and 



INDIA. 



37 



dead, from being held above the head mo- 




A FAKIR. 

tionless for many years : — here another whose 
nails have grown through the palm of his 



38 INDIA. 

clenched hand. Another has come from a 
long distance and has measured the weary 
road by lying at full length upon every part 
of it, like some great creeping worm. On all 
such occasions it generally happens that some 
one, by the ingenuity with which his torture 
is devised, will obtain a higher degree of sanc- 
tity than his fellows. On a recent occasion 
this was gained by one who hung himself by 
the feet, head downward, from the hmb of a 
tree for several hours each day. 

A still greater torture was undergone by 
one who submitted to the ordeal of five 
fires. Taking his place upon a raised plat- 
form, four fires were lighted about him, 
each large enough to roast an ox, while the 
blazing tropical sun beat upon his head. 
In the centre of all this he stood on one 
leg, occasionally casting oil upon the flames 



INDIA, 39 

from a small vessel which he held in his 
hand. Then, reversing his position, he 
stood motionless upon his head with his 
feet in the air, for three hours. Forty days, 
from sunrise to sunset, he underwent this 
torture, while the superstitious crowd paid 
him -the reverence due to a god. 

Europeans who have lived in India, all 
agree that it is not so much the hope of the 
instant entrance into heaven, which their 
religion promises these devotees at death, 
as the admiration and worship of the igno- 
rant, that prompts them to these sufferings 
and that as a class these Fakirs are thorough 
knaves. 



CHAPTER II. 

'I 17 HEN we come to speak of the 
productions of India, we find it 
almost easier, to tell what it does not pro- 
duce than what it does. As almost none 
of its great population eat animal food, 
grain of course must be raised in immense 
quantities. Wheat and rice are the staple 
articles of food, while fruits, such as the 
banana, cocoanut, mango, etc., are produced 
in the greatest variety and in endless num- 
bers. An enormous business is done in 
opium, which is sold to the Chinese markets, 
carrying destruction with it. Nearly sixty 
million dollars' worth a year are exported. 
We are accustomed to think with horror of 



INDIA. 41 

the destruction of body and soul by alcohol, 
but this is as nothing compared with the 
ruin that opium effects. Its preparation is 
a matter of great care. When the growing 
poppy heads have reached the size of a 
hen's egg, each one is wounded with a httle 
saw-like instrument. From the wound the 
milky juice of the plant oozes out, and on 
the following day is carefully collected. It 
is now carefully dried by exposure to the 
air, then thrown into vats and kneaded 
into balls and cakes, then again dried, and 
packed in chests and is ready for the market. 
Indigo, too, is a very important product. 
The plants grow to a height of three or 
four feet, and when in blossom are cut and 
laid in cisterns. Heavy weights are placed 
upon them to keep them in position, and 
the cisterns are filled with water. Ferment- 



42 INDIA. 

ation soon begins, and the water is one 
mass of rising bubbles. After a time the 
water is drawn off. The indigo in solution 
in it settles, and being removed, is dried and 
prepared for the market. 

Rich as is the vegetable growth, the trees 
of India are equally magnificent. The Ban- 
yan tree, as will be seen from the illustration, 
has the power of sending down from its 
branches roots to the ground, while the tree 
continues to spread in every direction. A 
single tree in this way becomes almost a 
forest. There is one such where the parent 
stem having died, an idol temple has been 
erected in its place, and stands surrounded 
on every side by the wide-spreading grove. 
Near Bombay there is a tree whose branches 
are so long that their weight has brought 
the ends to the ground, thus forming a huge 



INDIA. 45 

tent in which a thousand people might camp 
with comfort. The graceful cocoanut too, is 
everywhere seen, its tall head rising above its 
lower brethren. At Bombay is annually cele- 
brated the feast of the Full Moon of the 
Cocoanuts, lasting two days. It takes place 
near the end of September, and as the ma- 
jority of the people there gain their living 
in part or wholly from the sea, throngs attend 
it. Coming to the seashore or wading out 
into the waves, each casts into the water 
two or three cocoanuts as a peace-offering, 
thus hoping that the sea may be kind to 
him in the coming year and accepting his gift 
may protect him from evil. The whole bay 
is sometimes covered with these cocoanuts. 

Owing to the excessive heat of India 
great care has to be taken by European 
residents to avoid exposure to it. Nearly 



46 INDIA. 

all business is transacted in the early morn- 
ing. In the garrisons all drill is over by nine 
o'clock, and all labor is postponed till the 




sun is low in the heavens. The bungalows 
of the wealthy are built in the manner best 
calculated to secure the greatest comfort : — 
lattices and blinds keep out the sun's rays 



INDIA. 47 

and admit any breeze that may be astir, 
while overhead a huge punka or fan is kept 
always in motion by the Hindoo servants. 
Everywhere in India is seen the punka — 
in private houses, in business offices, and 
even in churches. Servants are employed 
in numbers which astonish us who live in 
colder cHmes. Fortunately a very small sum 
of money contents them, or the expense of 
living would be truly enormous. " A family 
however small, living in any style, must have 
a kansuma, a butler or steward ; kitmugar, 
a head table servant, beside a table servant 
for every member of the family; bobagee, or 
cook; meeta, man sweeper; metrane, i^mdAQ 
sweeper ; musalche, to clean knives and forks ; 
surdar^ head bearer, with eight common 
bearers, if he keeps a palanquin, to pull pun- 
ka, etc ; durwan, gate keeper ; dobey, wash- 



48 



INDIA. 



erwoman ; bhestie, to bring water ; abdar^ to 
cool the water ; c/mprasse, a confidential mes- 




BHESTIE. 



senger ; coolies, to carry marketing and other 
burdens ; chokedar, watchnnan ; if he keeps a 
carriage he must have a gharry-walla, or 



INDIA. 51 

coachman, with a syce, or groom for each 
horse, who runs with the horse, and so on, 
almost without end. Some of the servants 
must be Mohammedans, for the Hindoos will 
not touch certain dishes, and the Moham- 
medans too have antipathies which must be 
consulted." 

The natives, however, do not seem to 
find the heat any inconvenience ; and their 
houses, so far from being fitted with arrange- 
ments for comfort, are in the case of the 
lower classes, squalid and miserable. 

It is only in the last twenty years that 
railways have been introduced into India; 
before that time all travel was slow and 
wearisome. Though the English soon in- 
troduced carriages ; yet in many parts of 
the great empire there were either no roads, 
or such as would break to pieces any vehicle 



52 



INDIA. 



unless especially made for such rough work. 
Horses were by no means plenty nor of the 
best. The native vehicles are curious affairs. 




BULLOCK GARRY. 

The bullock garry is one of the most comfort- 
able of these, and as the animals are trained 
to their work, a much better rate of speed is 



INDIA. 



53 



often kept up, than would be supposed. 
Another curious vehicle is the palanquin ; a 




long box in whch the rider cannot sit up with 
comfort, but Hes stretched at full length 



54 INDIA. 

while relays of coolies taking it up by means 
of poles at either end, carry it swiftly on 
through the night. Nearly all travelling is 
done in India at night on account of the 
heat during the day, and curiously enough, 
travellers carry their own bedding. At 
intervals along the roadside are built bunga- 
lows for their reception, but these contain 
merely bare rooms where an attendant in 
charge spreads out the mattresses of the 
traveller and furnishes either rice or coffee, 
or more often only a fire on which to cook 
the food which the provident wayfarer has 
brought with him. 

Sometimes in those days of no railways, 
when the voyage was up the Ganges or the 
Indus or some of the many rivers of the 
land, it was made in boats driven against the 
currents by poles and helped along by favor- 



INDIA. 



57 



ing breezes, to court which clumsy sails were 
raised. The length of time thus taken was 




THATCHED BOAT. 

very great, but time to the Hindoo or Mo- 
hammedan is of the slightest importance, 
and to all the impatience of the traveller 



5^ INDIA. 

there could be but one answer, it was the 
will of God. 

But the strangest of vehicles on the land 
and the strangest of boats on the sea, are the 
one man bullock cart of Bombay, and the 



^-^ :5%r 




A BOMBAY ONE-MAN CART. 



small sail boat seen off the Malabar coast, 
which, of tiny dimensions but bearing a huge 
sail and carrying only one man who wears the 
gigantic hat, so common to the Hindoo, pre- 
sents the appearance to be seen in the picture 



INDIA. 



59 



Of course, all these primitive vehicles are 
thrown into the shade by the gigantic rail- 
ways that now traverse the whole length and 
breadth of the country. The scene at an 
Indian railway station is often curious and 
amusing enough. The natives who intend to 




travel " assemble hours before the time of 
starting ; and squat down and smoke theii 
pipes till the hour arrives. Then they rush 
to and fro in earnest excitement, dragging 
their children, conveying pots and pans, beds 
and bedding, as they yell and jabber. With 
looks of frantic despair they crush and push 



6o INDIA. 

along in a continuous turbaned stream ; and 
wholly forgetful for the moment of all caste 
distinctions, they pour into the place assigned 
to them. Should a high caste man discover 
to his anguish that he has to enter a compart- 
ment already to all appearance crammed with 
low caste or no caste men, it is in vain that he 
turns and shrinks back. The English guard 
pushes him in, locks the door, whistles sharply 
and waves his hand, crying, * All right.' Puff, 
puff, goes the engine, whirling off more than a 
dozen carriages filled with Brahmins and 
Sudras, holy and unholy, twice born and low 
born, along the iron path of destiny at five 
and twenty miles an hour." 

One of the greatest drawbacks to life in 
India is the great number of poisonous snakes 
that are found. They creep into the houses 
and even into the beds ; they drop down from 



INDIA. 



63 



the thatched roofs ; they He coiled up in the 
roadways, and are everywhere. It seems al- 




THE COBRA. 

most incredible, but nearly forty thousand 



64 INDIA. 

people die every year from their bites. From 
such a scourge there seems no way of escape. 

An account is given by a recent traveller, 
of a most singular rite, which he saw cele- 
brated at Bombay, called the Feast of 
Serpents. Upon a certain day in July or 
August of each year, great numbers of 
people assemble in an open part of the city. 
Here come long processions of women, 
draped in rich silk veils. On all sides, the 
palanquins of wealthy Brahmins stand about, 
while over the heads of the great crowd 
float huge standards and torches of flaming 
pitch. 

In the centre of all this throng, are sev- 
eral hundred serpent charmers, each of whom 
has with him several of the deadly cobras 
in a basket. The pious Hindoos bring to 
them bowls of buffalo milk, of which the 




>*fe- 



INDIA. 67 

serpents are very fond ; thus seeking to 
propitiate the dreaded enemy, and to secure 
safety from their wrath. Each bowl is soon 
surrounded by the snakes, who drink 
eagerly until removed by their masters, 
when their rage is terrible. The glaring 
of the torches, the crowd of spectators, the 
twisting slimy serpents, and the nearly 
naked figures of the charmers, go to make up 
a picture to be found nowhere out of India. 

Hardly less destructive than the serpents 
are wild beasts. In a single province the 
deaths averaged nearly twenty-five hundred 
a year from them. Tigers, wolves, and 
leopards, are the greatest destroyers. 
Though the government offers rewards for 
the heads of all these, yet the natives 
hardly ever dare to kill one, as they look 
upon them as gods, whose wrath is to be 



68 INDIA. 

feared, and when a district is visited by 
them, make but Httle if any effort to rid 
themselves of their enemies. In this way 
a single tiger killed in a short time, one 
hundred and twenty-seven people, and 
caused all journeyings on the highways to 
cease. Another despatched one hundred 
and fifty persons in three years, forcing the 
people to desert the villages^ and throwing 
out of cultivation two hundred and fifty 
square miles of territory. 

A most royal tiger hunt was arranged 
only a few years since, for an English 
nobleman who was visiting India. The 
party set out attended by several native 
princes, with four hundred elephants, and 
after riding for a time, reached the jungle in 
which a tiger was known to be. The long 
line of elephants was wheeled about so as to 



INDIA. 69 

form a circle, the command ' forward ' was 
given, and the whole body advanced till their 
sides touched, forming a solid ring, inside of 
which among the tall grass the tiger could be 
heard moving about. Several times the 
trapped beast attempted to escape through 
the ranks of his enemies, but the living wall 
stood firm, and a bullet soon ended his career. 
Almost as singular a hunt as this was 
once given by the Guicowar of Baroda, one of 
the native princes, to a French traveller who 
was staying at his court. This, however, was 
an antelope hunt, to which the party went on 
horseback, and the game was captured by 
the cheetah, or hunting leopard. As the 
place of rendezvous was at some distance from 
the town, they reached it by the railway ; the 
prudent prince causing his chief minister to 
ride upon the engine, thinking thereby to 



70 INDIA. 

insure his own safety from possible accident. 
Arrived on the ground, the cheetah was 
borne in a palanquin, his eyes covered with a 
leather hood, upon the shoulders of servants, 
to the scene of action. Soon a herd of ante- 
lopes was discovered, and the party getting to 
leeward of the game, lest they should be 
scented, the cheetah was loosed. Stealing 
quietly along, he was soon near the herd ; but 
they saw their danger and took to flight. 
Too late ! — the agile beast made one or 
two leaps forward and fastened upon his 
victim's throat. The attendants rushed for- 
ward, covered his eyes again with the hood, 
dragged him with difficulty from his intended 
feast, and the hunt was resumed. With such 
an ally, the hunter almost never returns 
empty handed. 

It is in the north of India, near the 




INDIA. 73 

Himalayas, that the most wild beasts are 
found ; for here amid the wild recesses of the 
mountains they are more secure from man. 
The traveller in these regions is always beset 
y eager applications on the part of bands of 
natives, to enter his service to shout and 
thus frighten off any tiger that may be 
lying in wait for him. 

Yet, notwithstanding such drawbacks, 
there is no mountain scenery in the world 
which is finer. Far above him tower the snow- 
capped peaks of the Himalayas ; their sum- 
mits seeming to support the skies, while as 
he looks down from the narrow road creeping 
around the mountain side, where often a 
single misstep would send him headlong hun- 
dreds of feet, he can see far beneath in the 
valley a roaring stream. Possibly he may 
hot view the river rushing through the gorges 



74 



INDIA. 



with the same feehng of admiration that he 
would, did he not know that soon the path 




will descend, and that the only bridge is a 
wicker basket, hung from a rope, in which 
he must cross the raging flood. 



CHAPTER III. 

T NDIA was long ago celebrated for her 
great cities. In the Ramayan, an epic 
composed some ten or eleven centuries before 
Christ, we read of the great city Palibothra, 
ten miles in length and two in breadth, with 
its sixty gates and its mighty walls capped 
by five hundred towers, and though the mod- 
ern cities cannot boast such grand proportions 
as this, they are many in number and of 
goodly size. The traveller from America or 
Europe looks with astonishment upon many 
strange sights. Here is the adjutant, a great 
bird, which, nearly as tall as himself, stands 
solemnly in the streets on one leg, heedless 
of the hurrying throng about him. Kites 



76 INDIA. 

and crows in vast flocks fairly darken the 
air, while their ceaseless caw, caw, is never 
ended. These are the scavengers of the 
town, devouring all the garbage thrown into 
the streets and not hesitating where a tempt- 
ing morsel is too openly displayed by some 
careless marketman, to swoop down suddenly 
and carry it off in their talons. At night the 
sleep of the new comer is broken by fiendisli 
shrieks and screams which make the blood 
run cold. The hyenas whom the light of day 
has driven into sewers and other hiding 
places, have ventured out in the darkness to 
seek their food., and with their human-like 
voices make night hideous. Some one has 
interpreted their language thus: *' Here's 
a dead Hindoo," howls an advanced guard. 
" Where, where," bark all the pack, and then 
all break out into the chorus : " We'll gnaw 



INDIA. 77 

his bones." Through all these nocturnal ser- 
enades, the native Indian sleeps as peacefully 
as if no sound were uttered. 



STREET, CALCUTTA ; EUROPEAN QUARTERS. 

Calcutta has all these doubtful attractions, 



78 INDIA. 

but fortunately does not depend upon them 
alone for its claim to notice. As the capital 
of modern India, it is the headquarters of the 
government, and its streets are no more 
strangers to the handsome carriages of its 
English residents, than to the more primitive 
native vehicles. Perhaps the difference be- 
tween an English and an Indian city, is better 
shown by the two contrasting pictures which 
we here give, one of the native quarters and 
the other of a street in the European section, 
than by any written description. 

Calcutta long held the position of chief 
city of India, but its supremacy has of late 
been disputed. Its position is a great disad- 
vantage to its commerce. One hundred 
miles from the mouth of the Hoogly, large 
vessels find it often no easy task to reach its 
docks ; while the dangers to which it is ex- 



INDIA. 



8l 



posed from the visits of the dreaded cyclone 
are a great injury to it. 

'' During my stay in Calcutta," says a 




late traveller, " I witnessed one of these cy- 
clones of lesser violence. Since the preced- 
ing evening the barometers had undergone 
tolerably sharp oscillations, and at one o'clock 



82 INDIA. 

in the afternoon the sky, in which a brilliant 
sun had shone since the morning, became 
overcast with clouds with astonishing rapid- 
ity. I was on the esplanade, and imme- 
diately on these first symptoms, became 
aware of a great movement in the roadstead : 
the vessels were lowering their topgallant 
masts and yards, and seemed to be getting 
ready for a struggle. Suddenly on looking 
around me I saw every one taking to flight 
and running as though pursued by some 
enemy. Nevertheless the air was still and 
calm, and I could scarcely understand the 
panic, when at the extreme end of the 
esplanade I distinguished a cloud of grayish 
dust advancing along the ground with great 
rapidity. I took to running in my turn, and 
with a certain degree of alarm, for I all at 
once found myself absolutely alone in the 



INDIA. S^ 

vast plain and I had to cross over several 
hundred yards before 1 could reach shelter 
of houses. I was on the point of gaining 
one, when I heard cries behind me and turn- 
ing round, at ten paces off I saw a palanquin 
set down in the middle of the road ; the 
porters had run away and abandoned a poor 
English lady, who in her fright did not know 
how to get out of her vehicle. At the 
moment I was about to render her assistance, 
the dust overtook us ; I felt myself enveloped 
and pressed by an invisible force, then my 
feet left the ground and I fell to earth. 
When I half raised myself the dust had 
disappeared, but the rain was falling in tor- 
rents, and the wind blew with a violence 
that prevented me from standing upright. 
The poor lady had succeeded in getting out 
of her palanquin, which the wind dashed 



84 INDIA. 

against the balustrade of the esplanade, and 
she lay on the ground much frightened. I 
succeeded in approaching her, half dragging 
myself along, and when I had raised her 
we were able by mutual help, to reach a 
hotel in a neighboring street. I had a great 
deal of trouble in getting them to open to 
us, for all the doors and windows had been 
carefully barricaded. For a quarter of an 
hour the violence of the wind continued on 
a progressive scale ; at- last the walls began 
to vibrate in such an alarming manner, that 
the hotel keeper assembled every one in a 
room that generally occupies the centre of 
all the houses in Calcutta, and the very 
thick walls of which, cyclone proof, were built 
in such a manner as not to suffer in the event 
of the rest of the house falling. Most fortu- 
nately we had not occasion for making trial 



INDIA. 



85 



of the solidity of this last refuge ; the wind 
lowered sensibly ; the rolHng of the thunder 




and the dazzKng brilhancy of the lightning 
which accompanied the rain from the begin- 
ning, ceased in their turn, and in a few mo- 



86 INDIA. 

ments a calm succeeded, and the skies became 
blue and limpid again as though nothing had 
happened. The streets however presented a 
mournful spectacle ; tiles and branches of 
trees, signboards, fragments of palanquins, 
and garments, bestrewed them from end to 
end. Among the rubbish might be seen 
hundreds of dead crows, buzzards, kites, 
which had not been able to resist the wind 
and had been dashed against the houses.'' 

The cities which, like Calcutta and Bom- 
bay, have been largely built by European 
traffic, are of far less interest than those 
which in central and northern India have stood 
almost unchanged for the last thousand years. 
Such is Benares, the holy city of India, and 
to every pious Hindoo the most sacred spot 
in the world. As the ancient Egyptian 
looked on the Isle of Philae, so the Hindoo 



INDIA. 87 

thinks of Benares. No matter how vile his 
caste, or what his hfe, he who dies within ten 
miles of this sacred city finds an immediate 
entrance to paradise ; and when in the 
course of events it becomes necessary for him 
to re-enter again the form of man, his soul 
will occupy the body of a Brahmin. The 
sick and dying are brought from miles to die 
upon this holy spot, and the sickening fumes 
of the burning ghauts, where their remains 
are consumed to ashes, never die away night 
or day. A column of black smoke always 
hangs over it ; while amid the livid flames 
that flash up from the burning piles, can be 
seen the naked figures of the attendants at 
their ghastly work. 

The streets of Benares are crowded with 
long trains of pilgrims, who come not only 
from all parts of India but even from China 



88 



INDIA. 



and Siam, to pay their devotions and thus 




wipe away their sins. The traveller who 



INDIA. S9 

approaches the city at sunrise, by the river, 
sees a strange sight. When the first rays of 
the rising sun gild the spires of the temples, 
the vast crowds of pilgrims plunge into the 
sacred stream, and wash themselves with its 
purifying waters. The Brahmins seated 
upon the shore, sell them certificates of 
purification, and otherwise encourage them in 
this pious task, while down the terraced bank 
come other Pilgrims to follow their example. 

The city as seen from the river is won- 
derfully beautiful. The high bluff on which 
it is built is terraced to the water's edge, 
while the palaces of many native princes, 
and the spires of temples everywhere over- 
hang the stream. 

When we have climbed the many steps, 
and are in the city itself, we find our wonder 
increased. No street is wide enough to ad- 



90 INDIA. 

mit a carriage, and through many of them an 
elephant could not pass, while the lofty 
houses with interlacing balconies nearly shut 
out the light from the roadway. The trav- 
eller's steps are not made more pleasant 
by the prospect of meeting at any moment 
one of the sacred bulls, which roam at will 
about the streets and at their pleasure 
forage upon any unfortunate shopkeeper, 
for none dare oppose them. At one time 
the number of these bulls was so great, that 
it became necessary for the English govern- 
ment to take some steps for their removal. 
To have killed them, would have outraged 
the feelings of every Hindoo, and have raised 
a riot, so they were carefully driven out into 
*'the jungles to graze, where the tigers, who 
did not recognize their sacred character, 
soon disposed of them, monkeys, too, in 



INDIA. 



93 



Benares are held sacred, and certain parts 




STREET IN BENARES. 

of the city fairly swarna with them. On 



94 INDIA. 

all sides rise the temples. Here, its en- 
trance crowded with eager worshippers, is 
the temple of Siva, while close beside it 
stands another building in which is the 
Well of Wisdom. Around this the devout 
worshippers press, and drink its not over- 
clean waters which a Brahmin draws for 
them, while a short distance away another 
twice-born son of Brahma dispenses the 
miracle-producing waters of the Well of 
Munikurnika to a no less zealous throng. 

When a Brahmin has a dispute with any- 
one not of his own caste, and satisfaction is 
not given, he takes the singular mode of ob- 
taining redress, called '* sitting in dharna." 
Taking his seat in front of his enemy's door, 
he refuses to eat or drink, until his claim is 
satisfied, and persists in this even till death 
ensues. Since in the popular belief, his 



INDIA 95 

enemy would be considered his murderer, 
and as the murderer of a Brahmim will be not 
only haunted by the ghost of the slain in this 
world, but be doomed to endless tortures in 
hell, it is not often that the Brahmin fails to 
come off victorious. This encounter was 
once held on a mighty scale at Benares. The 
English government had ordered a tax levied 
on houses, till then an unheard of proceeding 
in India. The Brahmins became excited. 
Next year, they said, it will be a tax on our 
wives and children. So sendino- out word into 
the country, they assembled in vast crowds and 
to the number of three hundred thousand sat 
in dharna in the plain about the city. But 
they had chosen an unfortunate adversary, for 
the English officials not being fearful of being 
haunted by the ghosts of this army while 
living or suffering the torture promised in the 



96 INDIA. 

next world, made no move to yield. A tre- 
mendous rain coming after the sitters had 
begun to feel very strong pangs of hunger, 
increased the dissensions that had arisen, and 
the host broke up in confusion. The gov- 
ernment, however, thought it judicious to 
abandon the tax, so that the sitters in dharna 
came off conquerors after all. 

When the Mohammedan conquerors over- 
ran India, they became masters of a people, 
who, having for centuries lived in peace, had 
accumulated great wealth, which was now to 
be given over to their new masters. These 
Mohammedan dynasties were on a scale of 
magnificence unknown at the present day, and 
a most substantial proof of this is the won- 
derful buildings which they have left be- 
hind them. Nearly all the cities of Northern 
India are thus distinguished. The Taj at 



INDIA. 97 

Agra, is believed to be the most beautiful 
building in existence. It was raised by Shah 
Jehan, and is the monument which he built 
in memory of a wife, to whom he ever 
offered the greatest devotion when living, 
and over whose tomb he shed many a tear. 
The graves of the two lovers are side by side 
in the centre of the building, while nearly two 
hundred feet above the.i: is the lofty dome 
that covers their last resting place. The 
walls within are carved in the most beautiful 
manner, while a marble screen that surrounds 
the tombs is so exquisitely cut as to resem- 
ble lace. Bouquets of flowers, and running 
vines, are formed by the insertion of precious 
stones, and the whole of the Koran is thus 
inset in the walls. All this is, without and 
within, of the whitest marble, and though now 
so many hundred years have passed since it 



g8 



INDIA. 



was erected, not a stain sullies its snow-white 




surface. To build this tomb, twenty thou- 
sand men labored more than twenty years. 
Shah Jehan could easily afford to spend fif 



INDIA. 



99 



teen millions of dollars in this way, for his 
wealth was enormous. He dispensed justice 
.and ruled his realms, seated upon a throne the 
description of which reads like a passage from 
fairy-land. " The throne was six feet long, 
and four feet broad, composed of solid gold, 
inlaid with precious gems. It was surmounted 
by a gold canopy supported on twelve pillars 
of the same material. Around the canopy 
hung a fringe of pearls : on each side of the 
throne stood two chattahs, or umbrellas, sym- 
bols of royalty, formed of crimson velvet rich- 
ly embroidered with gold thread and pearls, 
and with handles of solid gold eight feet long, 
studded with diamonds. The back of the 
throne was a representation of the expanded 
tail of a peacock, the natural colors of which 
were imitated by sapphires, rubies, emeralds 
and other briUiant gems. Its value was esti- 



TOO INDIA. 

mated by Tavcrnier, a French jeweller, who 
saw it in its perfection, at over thirty mil- 
lions of dollars." The grandfather of this 
rich prince left in his treasury at his death, 
jewels, plate and other treasures valued at 
three hundred and fifty millions of dollars. 

There is almost always another side to 
such a picture as this, and a sad one. That 
one man might thus live in grandeur, how 
many died in misery. How tarnished the 
precious stones appear when they seem to 
symbolize each the groan of a slave or the 
sighing of the prisoner and the captive. 

The Guicowar of Baroda, a prince of our 
own day and one who lived in something of 
the reckless extravagance of the early dynas- 
ties, lately formed a plan to recruit his finan- 
ces which may perhaps give us a clew to one 
of the ways in which all this wealth was 
gained. To place a new tax upon his people 



INDIA. lOI 



would be useless, for they had nought where- 
with to pay it. He therefore turned to the 
officers of his court, and issued an edict 
ordering under pain of severe measures that 
every one return to the royal treasury with- 
in a specified time, the money w^hich during 
the past ten years he had stolen in the dis- 
charge of his duties. Each man, uncertain 
whether his sovereign possessed secret proof 
of his wrong doing, hastened to obey, and at 
the end of the time, the lucky prince found 
his treasury again full. 

Shah Jehan was not content with erect- 
ing great buildings alone, he even founded 
cities. Delhi, formerly called Shahjehana- 
bad, was built by him. Its name is widely 
known from the bloody deeds that have been 
wrought there in our day. 

In the year 1857, nearly the whole of 



I02 TNDTA. 

India rose in a revolt against the English 
rule. Though signs of coming danger had 
not been wanting, the uprising found no one 
prepared. In the whole country there were 
but thirty thousand English troops to hold in 
subjection two hundred millions. The blow 
fell suddenty. At Meerut on a Sunday 
evening in Ma}', when all the English sol- 
diers were at church, the native regiments 
mutinied, opened the jails letting loose all 
within, and the work of death began. Man, 
woman or child that belonged to the hated 
race was cut down without mercy, while the 
night was everywhere lighted by the fires 
that destroyed their dwellings. The work 
was soon over. A few made their escape out 
of the city, but within all was death and 
desolation. 

Roused by the taste of blood, the muti- 



INDIA. 



103 



neers set out for Delhi arriving at its walls 
the next morning. The same scenes of 
violence were repeated here, and so rapidly did 
the revolt spread that in a few weeks nearly 
all India was in open mutiny. After the 
outbreak had taken place men remembered 
many signs of the coming trouble, and won- 
dered that they could have been blind to 
their deadly meaning. We read in the history 
of the Scottish border of the fiery cross and 
how, when danger threatened, it was passed 
from man to man throughout the land, till 
every one had armed himself. In jusjt this 
way it was remembered that in India the 
chapathi, a cake of flour of a peculiar shape, 
had been passed from village to village 
throughout the whole land, as if to give 
warning of a coming danger. 

The English at Delhi, that were so for- 



I04 INDIA. 

tunate as to escape the first fierce onslaught 
of the mutineers, fled to a ridge outside the 
city and fortified their position as well as 
possible. Escape was out of the question. 
They were miles from any place of safety, 
their only hope was to defend themselves till 
rescue came. The government knowing that 
the capture of the city was of the utmost 
importance strained every nerve to get to- 
gether a force that should retake it, and 
every man that could be spared was sent to 
join the brave defenders of the ridge outside 
of Delhi. For three months they withstood 
the attacks of forces ten times their number, 
until in September reinforcements arrived, 
and the besieged became the besiegers and 
advanced against the city. A forlorn hope 
carrying bags of powder advanced to its 
walls. The powder was thrown down, a fuse 



INDIA. 107 

lighted, a terrific explosion shattered the 
great gates and before the mutineers fairly 
realized the state of affairs, the English were 
in the city, and Delhi was retaken. 

Dreadful as were the scenes at Meerut 
and Delhi, it was at Cawnpore that the most 
terrible tragedy of the mutiny took place. 
In an open plain, protected only by an 
earthwork five feet in height and exposed to 
the full heat of the tropic sun, seven hundred 
men, women and children took refuge when 
the storm burst upon them. For twenty 
days this handful kept at bay the force of 
enemies around them, working their guns 
without ceasing until at last their number was 
so lessened by death that resistance seemed 
hopeless. A safe passage by boat to Allaha- 
bad was promised them and they surrendered. 
The next day they were marched down to 



I08 INDIA. 

the landing place, shown in the picture, 
where the boats were waiting that were 
to carry them to safety. Wounded and 
weary they toiled along under the blazing 
sun, their hearts heavy within them as they 
thought of the friends that had died in their 
arms, but hopeful as they looked forward to 
being soon in safety. Their hope was short- 
lived. Hardly had the first ranks stepped 
upon the boats, when a deadly fire was 
opened upon them from every side. One 
hundred women and children, when the 
slaughter ceased, were taken back wounded 
and bleeding and shut up together in. one 
barrack. A few days later when the Eng- 
lish troops retook Cawnpore and sought for 
their countrymen they found only their 
mangled remains. Every one had been ruth- 



INDIA. 1 1 1 

lessly killed and their bodies thrown together 
into a well near their prison. 

Such were the horrors which every city 
of northern India saw. The mutineers had, 
however, defied a power whose strength they 
did not know. In one year the authority of 
England was entirely restored, while thou- 
sands of the rebels had fallen in battle or had 
been put to death for their crimes. Years 
of quiet have followed this bloody outbreak, 
and the memory of its dark deeds has nearly 
died away except in the hearts of those 
whose friends fell in the storm. The long 
interval that has passed has been devoted to 
the arts of peace, and the days of terror are 
things of the past. 



